I've been an Apple device user for a long, long time. I've owned all kinds of iPods and computers and recently bought an iPad 2. Ever since I've owned an App capable Apple device, I've been looking for a Magic the Gathering app that allows me to create decks, store card images and shop for cards. It's been about 3 1/2 years since I started looking, and FINALLY, I have found the perfect app for it: Decked Builder.
Decked Builder is everything I could have wanted in a Magic the Gathering app, especially when used on my iPad's large screen. It has a fast, easy search engine that has every card to date in it. The cards it pulls up are in stunning HD. The controls are far from complicated. It also has features that will allow you to test play your deck to make sure you get good draws with each hand, and that show you the stats of your deck, from color and card type balance to mana cost balance. The app also has a pricing guide for every single card and a way to buy the cards right from within the app using TCGplayer.com. The thing I love most about Decked Builder? When you've added cards from the database into one of your decks, the image for that card is stored in your iPad's memory, so you can view it offline, which I think is amazing.
I hope you don't think I'm being paid to advertise for this app, because I'm not. I just think it's amazing that someone finally made an app that was just what I was looking for. I've been wanting one since I bought my iPod Touch. I've been using Microsoft Excel to document my decks, and every time I typed up a deck, I wished for something that was easier and that would show me what each card looks like. The downside, and this is a very small downside, is that the app is not free, like many of the other MTG apps on the App Store. The iPad version costs $5.00. For me though, that's not too much to pay for what the app gives you. My only wish for the app would be to make it possible to do one really big download of all the images of all the cards so that people like me that only have a Wifi enabled device can still use it when we're not connected to the internet. The webpage for the app says that they are considering doing this and having it cost an additional $3.00, which would give you a download of all the HD card images and allow you to download future sets for another year. To me, this is a brilliant idea and I would be willing to pay the $3.00 for it. Just the thought of being able to search for a card from anywhere in the world regardless of internet makes me excited. Think of how easy it would be to build decks on the go.
What do the rest of you think? Have any of you tried Decked Builder? How do you like it? What would you change about it? What about any other deck building apps/programs that you've tried? Do you have any to recommend? Let us know in the comments.
(The Decked Builder app is not just available for iPad. It is also available for iPhone and iPod Touch users as well as anybody who has a Mac desktop or laptop.)
No comments:
Post a Comment